Day 7 - The Muffler (Throw)



Picture by Dats (age 9)

 OK.  This is truly embarassing.  I haven't really set any rules for myself with this whole daily Throw, Give or Sell thing, but I do know I can't just pick up a used kleenex that one of the rug rats left on the living room floor and call it my Throw for the day.  BUT if some large, rusty hunk of metal has been on the ground beside the house for ... oh, let's say three months ... THEN, I think it definitely qualifies as a genuine Throw. 

The muffler rotted off my car three months ago.  It had been dangling for at least half a year.  (My car has actually been quieter since it fell completely off.)  I know it has been three months because it was before the school year started.  I know it was before the school year started (August 14) because I had just picked up a fellow teacher whose classroom is right next to mine and we were on our way to school to put in a few hours of classroom preparation when it happened. 

For the sake of my ego, I try to avoid having non-family passengers in my car if at all possible, so this was the first time my colleague had ridden with me.  As he hopped in, to cover my embarassment, I jokingly asked if his tetanus shots were current.  I told him the windows had to stay down since the air conditioner blows hot air.  And that we were lucky to be driving in the daylight since the dashboard lights don't work.  And that I hadn't gotten around to replacing the passenger side mirror since it fell off last winter and went bouncing down the road.  And that I was the only one who ever drove the car since the electric seat adjuster had long ago frozen with the driver's seat all the way back in the far position - perfect for me but too far for Melissa's foot to reach the gas pedal. 

As we started out to school, I realized there was something I had forgotten at home, so I swung back by my house for a quick stop.  As I pulled into the drive, there was this terrible scraping noise.  I hopped out, looked under the car, loosened the last tendon holding the muffler to the underbelly and popped back up holding my muffler like a prize large mouth bass.  My passenger was quite impressed.

So this leaves the question: why did the muffler lay beside the house for three months?  You got me.